Announcements/Business:
- December 15, 2-5 at Aspen Peak Winery is our next Conifer Rotary Social---all are welcome, (especially our guests today)
- The Holiday Party will be held January 4th, 5-9PM at Marlis and Steve’s home. More to come.
- Imagination Library has a link on the website for Conifer Parade. We need volunteers to “wo-man” the table to share the project with our local families with little kids.
- Please bring your Rotary Magazines; we will add a sticker with our Conifer Rotary meeting information and website address. We will drop them at doctor and vet offices, tire and auto service centers---and more. Your name and address will be covered over.
- Diana reported on the Youth Exchange program. Our Club has 2 out-bound students going to Croatia. We have 2 host families for our in-bound exchange student, only one more is needed. There are 14 exchange student kids in our District. Diana reports that the Exchange program supports itself; it does not receive funds from the District or Rotary International --we may need to do some fund raising to help our kids---in bound and out bound.
- Start to think St. Paddy’s! fundraiser! Yvonne is starting the planning.
- Conifer Trivia Night will be in February—anyone interested in putting together a team, contact Yvonne, who will coordinate our teams.
- Pat Hagan will attend the Grants qualification seminar January 11. Anyone else who is interested, join Pat by signing up on the District website.
- Rotary Leadership Institute will be February 1. This is a excellent training to acquaint members with all things Rotary.
- Coats, blankets and other cold-weather gear are being collected by The Platte Canyon High School Interact Club members. Bring them to a Rotary meeting to be delivered to Platte Canyon. The Interactors will be distributing them with the school superintendent and his wife.
- We will be giving out more grants December 3rd and 17th. These are fun meetings in Rotary - it is what we are about.
Program: Cynthia Latham, Evergreen Rotary
In Harms Way: Scary Similarities Between Our Foothills Ares and Paradise California
Our area is one of the worst areas in the country for wildfire danger. Cynthia showed us the many frightening similarities between our area and Paradise, California. Even scarier is the extremely fast progression of the Paradise fire. That fire was ignited by sparks from a power line seven from Paradise, in less than six hours Paradise was destroyed and 83 people died.
What happened: Emergency communications failed. There was poor defensible space on private property and old building codes for homes. Escape routes were overwhelmed and blocked.
After the fire, toxic debris had to be cleaned up-twice as much as from the World Trade Center after 9/11, 90% of the population moved away, there is no safe water supply until at least 2022 and $53 million dollars to restore.
Lessons learned:
- Excessive vegetation along critical roads must be removed
- Evacuation plans need to be improved
- Emergency Communication must be improved, cell towers failed
- Building codes must be updated
- Need to widen right-of-ways and add shoulders along key evacuation routes
What Paradise had that Our Area does not:
- Municipal government
- Preparations for wild fire emergency
We have too much wildfire fuel. Mega-fires that cover over 100,00 acres and sterilize the earth are becoming more common, more people living in the woodland urban interface (WUI), no coordinated government authority, residents are unprepared for wildfire.
It is not a matter of “IF” but “WHEN” we will have a devastating fire.
To become ready: the READY, SET, GO website has valuable information, go to https://www.wildlandfirersg.org.
- Download the READY, SET, GO Information Book HERE;
- Create defensible space around the home;
- Use fire resistant landscaping;
- Harden your home: roofs, vents, decks and porches, siding and windows;
- Provide emergency responder access;
- Know your escape routes;
- Sign up for CodeRED emergency notifications, click HERE.
Evergreen and Mountain Foothills Rotary are starting an organization to help prepare the community. The goal is to have a Community Wildfire Protection Implementation Plan (CWPIP). Grant money is available to help.
Evergreen Rotary has an educational fire truck to educate the community; it is available for community events.
We also need evacuation planning for disabled and elderly; get everyone signed up for CodeRed.
Our local fire departments have many educational pieces available for free.
Addendum: The Rotary Conifer Music Festival fundraiser on August 15, 2020 will be supporting our Fire Departments’ mitigation efforts.
Guests: Rebekah and Steve Gordy, Dual Schneider